Real Estate and Development Special Interests Pour Money into Farad Ali Campaign

posted by People's Alliance Pac | 25sc
October 07, 2017

Real estate and development interests have been pouring money into electing Farad Ali as their mayor. Over the last few days, the Greensboro-based “NC Property Rights Fund” has sent out three major direct mail cards supporting Ali. The NC Property Rights Fund is “super pac” affiliated with the NC Realtors Association. Unlike candidate committees and regular pacs like PA PAC which operate under strict fundraising limits, super pacs have no fundraising limits. In addition to the support of the Realtors’ super Pac, the organization’s regular pac has given Ali several thousand dollars directly. Local and out of town developers have also made large gifts to Ali’s campaign. Alex Mitchell, a principal in the controversial 751 South development next to Jordan Lake in Durham County has given Ali the maximum gift of $5,200. Raleigh developer John Kane has also made large cash gifts to Ali. Kane is the developer of several large projects at North Hills. Ali’s donor list includes the names of other builders and developers. The real estate industry cares about local city council elections because the city council makes important zoning and development decisions which can mean big profits for developers. So far, the Ali campaign has raised well over one hundred thousand dollars and that does not include the money the Realtors’ super pac has spent on his behalf. According to the INDY, approximately half of the money Ali has raised has come from sources outside of Durham.

Steve Schewel, PA PAC’s candidate in the contest for mayor, feels strongly that the outcome of the election should be decided by Durham’s people and not by outside or special interests. PA PAC agrees. Our mayor and city council should be answerable only to Durham’s people - not moneyed special interests based in Greensboro or Raleigh. Early in the campaign Steve vowed to raise no more than 25% of his campaign money from donors outside of Durham and he pledged to turn away big money gifts from developers. He has kept this promise. Independence and integrity are just a couple of the reasons that PA PAC likes Schewel for Durham’s mayor.